1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fiber suitable for use in the field of bedding and interior articles, which fiber is incorporated into wadding for sleeping mats, coverlets, pillows, and stuffed dolls, and pile yarns, loop yarns, and cut pile yarns of blankets, carpets and the like, to impart a durable fragrance to these articles. Moreover, the present invention relates to a fiber suitable for use in the field of bedding and interior articles, in which fiber natural essential oils and components isolated from natural essential oils are used as the aromatic perfume, to impart a durable "forest therapy effect" to the articles described above.
2. Description of the Related Art
As means for imparting a fragrance to fibers, a method has been adopted in which a perfume is adsorbed in or stuck to a final fibrous product by a post treatment. However, this method is defective in that the applied fragrance is readily removed by water washing or laundering, or the speed of loss of the perfume by volatilization is high and the given fragrance is not durable. This defect is especially conspicuous when a natural essential oil or a component isolated from a natural essential oil, which is collected from natural wood, is used as the perfume, because almost all of the components of natural essential oils are monoterpene and dipertene compounds which have a boiling point of 150.degree. C. to 190.degree. C. and are promptly volatilized in air.
To eliminate the abovesaid quick disappearance of fragrance from the final fibrous product, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 48-93714 discloses a proposal, in which perfume is dispersed in a core component of a sheath-core type synthetic fiber. This fiber, however, has a drawback in that the fragrant effect is very low because the perfume can be volatilized to outer air only from an end surface thereof having a narrow area and in that thickness thereof must be very large so as to result in an effective fragrance, which degrades a flexibility of the fiber.